Learn NVDA: Hotkeys and Commands, Part 1

Transcript

Intro: The American Foundation for the
Blind in Association with
NVAccess presents:
Learn NVDA:
An Introduction to using your
computer and getting online.

Windows Basics, Part 1

Narrator: In this tutorial we
will introduce some
of the important
keyboard commands you will
need to know to use NVDA.
There are two types of
commands in NVDA.
Some only use a single
key on your keyboard.
The Tab, Arrow, Space,
and Enter keys are some
examples of frequently
used single key commands.
Other commands use a
combination of keys.
These keystrokes use modifier
keys to change the behavior of
the of single key commands.
Windows uses Control, Alt,
Shift, and Windows keys as
modifiers by default.

NVDA introduces a new, very
important modifier key called
the NVDA key.
The NVDA key is set
to the Insert key by default
but it can be changed to the
Caps Lock key in the
preferences menu.
When we mention a combination
of keys, the proper way to
enter the keystroke
is to hold down all of the
modifier keys and then press
the single key once.
So for example if the keystroke
was Control plus Alt plus N
you would hold down the
Control and Alt modifier keys
and then press the N key once
before letting go of all
of the keys.

Let's move on to how
the keyboard is laid out.
For purposes of this tutorial,
the descriptions we provide of
the keys on the keyboard will be
based on the standard, full
sized, Windows US
keyboard layout.
If you notice that your keyboard
is laid out differently
you can use the input help
function, which we will talk
about in a moment
to identify the various keys
on your keyboard.
A full size keyboard has a
few sections that we'll
discuss in detail.
The top row of keys are
the Function keys.
The very left key is the
Escape key followed by F1
through F12 in groups of four.

The main part of the keyboard is
below the function row.
This alphanumeric section
takes up about two thirds
of the width of the keyboard
and most of the height.
To the right of the alphanumeric
section is a distinct
column of keys.
From top to bottom there are
three special function keys
which we won't be using.
Below them is an important
section of keys in
a two by three layout
called the control pad.
The top left key in the control
pad is the Insert key.
Recall that the Insert key
is the NVDA key by default.
And below the control pad are
the arrow keys which are laid
out in an inverted T.
And finally the right most
section of the keyboard is
the number pad.

NVDA has a long list of commands
that may seem daunting at first.
But most people only regularly
need to use a fraction of them.
We think the hotkeys in this
video are the ones that you
need to get started.
To make learning the hotkeys a
little easier, NVDA includes a
tool called "Input Help."
When you enable "input
help," NVDA will speak the
name of any key or key
combination that you press.
If the command is provided by
NVDA, it will also tell you
what action it will perform
in your current context.

With input help on, you don't
have to worry about
accidentally activating anything
because none of the commands
will actually be performed.
This allows you to safely
explore your keyboard layout.
This is also very helpful for
finding some of the more
obscure keys in your keyboard
and can be especially helpful
if you are on a laptop that may
not have a standard key layout.
The NVDA plus 1 command will
toggle input help on and off.

The Arrow, Tab, Enter, Space and
Escape keys are the
very basic keys
that allow you to move around
and interact with programs
on your computer.
The goal of this section is to
define what action these
keys generally perform.
The exact functionality of
these movement keys can change
based on your current context
but with some practice it's
easy to learn what to
expect them to do.

We'll start with the arrow keys.
The arrow keys represent the
smallest movement forwards or
backwards that you can make.
If you're using the arrow
keys you're not going
to skip over anything on
the screen in most cases
but there may be some areas
that you can't get to
just by arrowing.
Usually when we're talking about
moving around a
program while using
a screen reader we only need to
worry about forwards
and backwards.
That's because a screen reader
takes the screen's contents and
aligns it in one dimension.
In most cases we can move
forwards or backwards
with the up or down arrow but
there some instances in which
left and right also become
important like in a
grid or table.
In the future we'll specifically
call out those instances.

The Tab key is the left
most key in the fourth row
from the bottom, or just
to the left of the Q key.
Pressing Tab generally moves
you to the next interactive
element on the screen.
It may also move you between
sections of an application.
In general Tab is a quick way
to get around but you'll
probably skip over paragraphs
of text in the process.
You can also hold Shift and
press Tab to move backwards.

The Enter key is the last
key on the third row
from the bottom of the
alphanumeric section.
Pressing the Enter key usually
means "Accept" and "Continue."
If you press the Enter key,
you're indicating that you're
finished with what you were
doing, and it's okay to be
taken to the next screen.

The Spacebar is the wide key in
the middle of the bottom row.
The Spacebar represents a more
gentle interaction when
compared to the Enter key.
Pressing Space means you want
to activate an element without
leaving the screen
you're currently on unless
you're specifically clicking
on something like a
"Submit" or "Next" button.

And finally, the Escape key is
the very top left key
on the keyboard.
Escape means that you want to
back out of wherever you are
and discard any changes
that you may have made.

Now let's talk about
modifier keys.
As we mentioned before
modifier keys are generally used
in combination with other keys
to perform actions.
Most of the modifier keys can
be found on the bottom left
of the keyboard.
Starting at the left of the
bottom row of keys, you will
find the Control key.
Moving right, you'll find the
Windows key and
then the Alt key.
Above the Control key you will
find the Shift key which is
wider than the others.
If you're on a laptop you may
have a Function key in between
the Control and Windows keys.

If you press the Control key by
itself, it will make NVDA stop
speaking immediately.
This is extremely helpful
since NVDA can be quite verbose.
Similarly the Shift key
will pause NVDA's speech.
Pressing Shift again will resume
speech from where it left off.

The navigation keys
combined with the modifier keys
are the basic keys you need
to know to get started.
These keys are not unique to
screen reader users, but screen
users are dependent on them.
It's up to each application
developer to properly implement
keyboard functionality within
their own app which creates
some inconsistency.
And that's why we recommend
learning the kind of action
that each key
is supposed to represent
because you will likely have
better success
than by trying to memorize
exactly what each key does
in every application.
In the next tutorial we will
put this information to use
and talk about some important
commands specific to NVDA.

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